By: Celia Murray; Columnist

This past week, a new poll was released on the subject of health care.  The poll, commissioned by NBC News, was conducted by Democratic pollster Jay Campbell of Hart Research Associates and Republican pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies.   
    As to the basic idea of health care reform, the numbers were unchanged from a month earlier – 41 percent for it and 47 percent against it.  While the numbers were certainly not comforting to the Democratic President, Republicans could not take heart in them either.  Fully 62 percent of those polled don’t like what the Republicans are doing regarding health care and only 21 percent approve of the Republican approach. 
    More interestingly, this new poll went further and questioned participants about specific claims associated with proposed health care reform.  The findings:  45 percent said they believe the government will decide when to stop providing medical treatment to senior citizens (the so-called death panels); 55 percent said they believe health insurance coverage will be extended to illegal immigrants; 54 percent said they believe any overhaul will lead to a “complete” government takeover of the health care system; and 50 persent believe the overhaul will use federal tax dollars to pay for abortions.

By: Dick Hodgetts: Columnist

I admire companies that expand the usage of their product.  The folks at Arm & Hammer baking soda are the best in the world at this.  Their product now appears in freezers, refrigerators, toothpaste, laundry detergent, mouthwash, body wash, in fact; I don’t know anyone who bakes with the product, except Gloria Stuhmiller.  What a creative bunch that markets the Arm and Hammer brand.
So, it rings well with me when a local company takes its product and makes it more useful, entertaining, or valuable.  Travel with me up to Lake Oconee Parkway also known as Highway 44 or exit 130.  It is a 25 minute trip, less than the time it takes to drive to Athens.
If you are familiar with the intersection of Linger Longer Road and Lake Oconee Parkway you may know that a Publix is located there.  If you go into the center you will find that Spotlight Theatres has a movie theater named Parkside Main 8.  It would not be enough to tell you that it is the neatest movie house within 50 miles.  Big cushy seats. 
    They serve food from an impressive kitchen, and they even have a “Chef” Geof Leibel, and knock my socks off-they have a bar on the upper level.   Eight movies show at a time, two levels-one up and one down.  The upper level is called the Concierge Level and as you might expect, it is plush. But the first level is too.  They even have $5 movies all day on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Nice, nice place.  So if you never go to movies why would you care?  General Manager Dan Chun a 24-year veteran of the theatre business operates this place as if he worked for Arm and Hammer baking soda; he has found ways to make the Parkside eight attractive to a bigger audience.

“I had a hip replacement because of arthritis but it still hurts. What can I do?”

First make sure that you don’t have a complication from the surgery itself.  You may even want to get another surgical opinion.  But if that’s not the case, it’s extremely important that you understand why your hip problem really developed to begin with.

We’re told that age and excessive weight cause arthritis.  But there are some overweight people with no joint pain and some young people who have it.  And in many cases only one hip is affected while the other remains pain free.  So there must be other causes.  Age and weight are certainly factors, but not the primary cause of arthritis.

The most common cause of arthritis of the hip and subsequent joint replacement surgery is structural problems (poor alignment).  Problems such as leg length differences cause uneven wear on our joints in the same way that poorly aligned tires causes premature, uneven tire wear.  So arthritis is preventable to some extent.
Proper foot positioning is also critically important. The foot is the foundation of our entire skeletal system and if it’s not aligned all of the weight bearing joints it supports (ankles, knees, hips and back) will also be off.  The Leaning Tower of Pisa didn’t get crooked from the top but from its base!

Remember that replacing a knee or hip joint does nothing to fix the cause of the bad joint (such as a longer leg) any more than putting a new tire on a car fixes its bent frame.  As a matter of fact, surgery often makes your frame worse because it usually results in a longer or shorter leg than before surgery!

It's late August and time to pack for vacation. What's a mom to do? Toss a few pairs of shorts in the suitcase. On second thought, why not wear hiking shorts to be ready upon arrival at destination. A few hours later finds our mom striding down the stairs of Air Force One at the Grand Canyon.

GASP. The First Lady has...legs.

Last week, the first family took a tour of the Grand Canyon. The temperature reached a million degrees. The First Lady wore shorts.  What was she thinking?

Probably that she was going to see the largest multicolored-rock hole in the contiguous United states with her husband and school age daughters. And that it was going to be blistering hot.

While her husband is rightly scrutinized about decisions on public policy, Michelle Obama was held under a m icroscope about clothes she wore on a family holiday. Earlier, she faced a barrage of criticism for going sleeveless. She obvious got that message for though bare-legged; she wore a very camping-chic, plaid shirt cuffed at her buff biceps.

In light of all the brouhaha, most thought the “mom-short” First Lady image only added to Michelle Obama's authenticity. But the debate raged as to whether she looked appropriate. Is “shortsgate” a thinly veiled reaction against her husband's politics? I wish that were true.

This is more about the fact that Michelle Obama is...GASP... a woman. And society picks apart  a woman's appearance like 5 year-old boys dissect a grasshopper on the primary school playground. Men are tough on women. Women are tough on women. Grasshoppers probably are tough on women.

By: Sarah Burbach; Assistant Superintendent

Art Education in our Morgan County schools is more than just drawing pictures and learning about famous artists! During the 2008-2009 school year, the Georgia Department of Education gathered a network of significant people from the “art world” to draft the Georgia Performance Standards for Visual Arts Education. Our own Bess Carter, Laura Rice, and Marjean Meadow were invited to serve on this committee and played an active role in developing, writing, and reviewing the new standards for every visual arts program in Georgia schools.

Meadow, art teacher at Morgan County Middle School, recognizes the value of the visual arts program in the public schools and its importance to developing creative thinking and innovative design for students needing to acquire 21st century job skills. She believes that creativity, innovation, and critical thinking are a big part of what art education teaches naturally. While many job skills are being outsourced to other countries, innovative design is still an area led by Americans and will be a necessary job skill for the future. Meadow pointed out that the MFA (Master of Fine Arts) degree is quickly replacing the MBA of yesterday as the business sector looks to hire innovative thinkers. The areas of fine arts are becoming increasingly more important to educators as they strive to develop these skills in today’s students…our future work force.